There are good sequels on occasion, but generally these come from well-developed stories to begin with. If the original film was lacking in development, the second (or third) installment suffers from the poor beginnings.

This was brought home to me while sitting across the table from Rebekah and Ruth. We were chatting about nothing in particular and iSundae III came to mind. Within fifteen minutes of goofing around, we had the semblance of a plot that, at an earlier time, would have had us scurrying off to write a script.The plot was somewhat of a Lord of the Rings spoof. Just to show how easy this is, here’s what we came up with:

As the power of Chocolate begins corrupting him, Stelen discovers that he can escape Reyshar’s fate if he and his fellow wielders destroy the iSundae swords in a microwave. Enlisting the help of Gwenanda the so-called enchantress to build a microwave, and hindered by power-obsessive Kitty Cone, the wielders embark on a quest to destroy the powers before it is too late.

You can see that the story is already rather weak. All we’ve done is take some of our existing characters, make them mirror characters from Lord of the Rings, and add a dash of silliness.

And that was where we stopped. In our minds, we stopped there because we have matured as writers to the point where such a story is no longer appealing. Not only that, but the iSundae series has a lot of random baggage in the root story that prevents us from handling it the way we would like. iSundae II is a testament to that fact. It could have been so much better if we’d gotten iSundae right to begin with.

Not only that, but iSundae doesn’t really need another sequel. Many films are this way. While reading release dates on Box Office Mojo, I was surprised to discover how many lame first films were receiving the sequel treatment this year. Seriously, do you (and we) want to be in that camp?

So this is my encouragement to you to leave those sequel ideas behind. Start something new, something that doesn’t need to be attached to the old work with its flaws. Come up with a new idea, which will hopefully have fewer flaws than your previous story. And then repeat the cycle.

There are exceptions, of course. Sometimes a good sequel idea shows up. When that happens, I’d recommend sitting on it for some time before going ahead with writing. Then, if it still seems good, be very careful to make it new and fresh. Don’t be tempted to ride on past success for the sake of making a movie. Instead, make sure the story is worthwhile.

iSundae II: Attack of the Cones – Part 10 of 10 from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

Stay tuned! We’ll have outtakes for you later on, and I’m planning on a behind the scenes video on the tower top scene.

iSundae II: Attack of the Cones – Part 9 of 10 from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

Be sure to stick around for a peek behind the scenes of the flying machine sequence and all the craziness of shooting blue screen all day.

iSundae II: Attack of the Cones – Part 8 of 10 from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch the movie on YouTube.

Stick around! This week, Rebekah will tell you how we worked around needing ten people for a scene, when we only had eight.

iSundae II: Attack of the Cones – Part 7 of 10 from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

Be sure to stick around. We have a very special behind the scenes video this week!

iSundae II: Attack of the Cones – Part 6 of 10 from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo. 

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

Later this week, Rebekah will show you what went into the creation of the weather machine.

iSundae II: Attack of the Cones – Part 5 of 10 from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

As always, you can watch the video on YouTube, too.

iSundae II: Attack of the Cones – Part 4 of 10 from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

Be on the look out for a behind the scenes post later this week. This time, Rebekah is going to tell you about how we re-used costume elements.

iSundae II: Attack of the Cones – Part 3 of 10 from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

Be on the lookout for a behind the scenes post this week. Rebekah will be discussing how we brought General Public from script to film.

iSundae II: Attack of the Cones – Part 2 of 10 from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

Be watching for a behind the scenes article this week. We’re going to tell you about how we did one of the biggest scenes (set and actor-wise) in the movie.